February 2, 1981 - Killers

Happy New Year! Two months after my last release and just under a year after "Iron Maiden", Iron Maiden released their second album "Killers" on February 2, 1981. Guitarist Dennis Stratton has parted ways since their last album as the rest of the band didn't feel Stratton was really into their new style of metal. He is replaced by new guitarist Adrian Smith but almost all of the songs on this album were also written at the time of their last album, they had such an overflow of good songs. They only wrote two new songs actually so this album is much in the same vein as their debut. Let's give it a listen!

The album kicks off with "The Ides Of March", a short instrumental intro song. Again, I can't tell who is playing what guitar between Smith and Dave Murray, but there is lots of great guitar around! One.guitarist leads a slow, epic opening riff whilst Clive Burr plays some nice drums. The other guitarist joins in the second go through, adding more emphasis to this epic beat. One guitarist begins to solo overtop of this main beat and he plays some pretty sweet stuff as these guys are coming out in full force! After a really great solo they play the main riff one last time and Burr ends it with some epic cymbals. A nice little instrumental intro and it leads into the next song "Wrathchild" as Harris plays a sweet bass line to open it and the guitars come I'm to form a fast-paced solid main riff. We hear Paul Di'Anno for the first time this album as he sings in the same style as usual, and again it fits the mood pretty well. The lead guitar is pretty sweet and it is the highlight of both the verse and the chorus as we hear some great playing by either Murray or Smith. After the chorus we hear a pretty good guitar solo by one of them and afterwards the other one starts up a catchy new riff. There's some great guitar by both of them in this part and they tie it back into the main verse for a final go round. They play one more chorus before Di'Anno ends things with a final "yeah!" Track 3 is called "Murders In The Rue Morgue" and it starts with some slow guitar and Harris playing some smooth, quiet bass. This leads into a heavier riff that sounds pretty epic with some nice slow guitar, but Burr begins a really quick drumroll and they move into a much fast-paced main verse. Di'Anno's quick vocals sound decent enough in this headbanging, fast main riff that has some great guitar and bass. The verse and chorus flow right into each other as the sweet lead guitar carries right through and Di'Anno's vocals sound pretty good in the chorus. They don't really break away from this formula as they continue to repeat verses and chorus's, but they're all very quick and I don't really mind when it's this solid! After about three minutes they finally change it up and switch to a new bridge riff that leads right into a guitar solo. The lead guitar is unsurprisingly pretty good but the rhythm guitar riff is also really nice as Smith seems to be complimenting Murray very nicely. The solo leads back into another chorus, a final verse, and one final chorus to close it out. This is an early favourite as I really liked the guitars and it is one of Di'Anno's best vocal performances. Up next is "Another Life" and Burr starts this one off with a really cool drum beat as one of the guitars comes in and together they play a sweet little opening. They slam into a full riff and the other guitarist is soloing right away as this song has a blistering beginning. Things settle into a typical Maiden riff and Di'Anno sounds good in this verse as well. Instead of a chorus we hear a sweet little part with guitar and bass, then it's back for another verse. After another nice guitar/bass part things shift into a new fast guitar riff and we're off on a new wicked metal riff and it's time for another guitar solo. It's not a particularly flashy one but it still sounds pretty good and is probably still better than most could do! They play a final verse and chorus before we hear a really good flourish ending with some more awesome guitar. Track 5 is another instrumental song called "Genghis Khan" and all four members that are playing start with some great stuff and move very nicely into a wicked main riff. I'm not sure if it's just the lack of vocals, but this riff is exploding with great guitar, bass and drums and really reaches out and grabs your attention. After a minute of this great riff, they decide to turn things up even more as they spped up to a very fast new riff that has everyone playing very quickly, and sounding awesome! Words don't do justice as Murray, Smith, Harris and Burr are all not only playing great music, bit playing it perfectly in time very quickly! They do about a minute of this fantastic riff, before nicely segueing to a slower riff that still sounds great; and still has one of the guitarists playing some speedy stuff. Three great riffs, all about a minute long, and it adds up to a really excellent instrumental song! The final song on side 1 is "Innocent Exile" and Harris plays some excellent bass to start this song as well before they settle into the guitar-led verse. It's another pretty catchy guitar riff as Di'Anno sings a decent verse. They play a couple verses with no chorus and Harris plays the opening bass part again, but this time it leads to a different riff. This new riff has some nice upbeat rhythm guitar and is another headbanger as the first guitar solo starts. It sounds pretty great as usual and the two guitarists do a nice switch as the soldier takes over the rhythm riff and the other guy gets a chance to solo! His solo is pretty sweet as well and it shows that whether it's Murray or Smith, they can both really shred it! This leads into an epic final guitar riff and another rock and roll flourish ending with Di'Anno doing a decent yell overtop of some fast drums as they bring this pretty epic first side to a close. 

Side two begins with the title track, "Killers" and Harris leads the way with some nice bass as the guitar and drums hang in the background. Di'Anno sings some high pitched "yeah"s in this interesting, slightly ominous opening before they finally move into the first verse. Murray and Smith are both playing some great fast-paced guitar in this verse as Di'Anno sings in a nice voice overtop about a killer stalking someone in the subway. After a couple solid verses they move to a new bridge riff that has Murray, Smith and Harris all playing some great speedy stuff, and Di'Anno adds some less than stellar vocals in this part. It leads into our first guitar solo and whoever goes first does a pretty good job, but it's followed by a solo by the other guitarist and he really shreds it in this one, playing some more amazingly fast and precise guitar. Once again the two guitarists do a great job of switching between lead and rhythm  and after this wicked second solo it leads back to the solid main riff. They jam it out a few more times before Di'Anno says "I'm coming for you" and ends it with a final high-pitched yeah! Up next is the longest song at just over six minutes, titled "Prodigal Son". We hear some lighter guitar open things that still sounds pretty good and Burr plays some nice slow drums that lead into the main riff. We hear acoustic guitar in addition to the light electric guitar and Harris is playing some great bass as usual as this doesn't sound like your typical Maiden riff, it sounds almost like Yes! I don't think that's a bad thing at all as things sound very cool and smooth but they quiet it down for the first verse. The acoustic guitar continues as Di'Anno sings along but I don't find his voice fits this lighter style at all. We hear some cool electric guitar only when he isn't singing and I don't understand why just because there are vocals, they could not have played a more complex backing riff as they seem to dumb things down a bit when Di'Anno is around. It's not like it sounds bad, it's just underwhelming as they lightly jam out in this style for the first half of the song. Around three minutes in we hear an epic electric guitar riff start and take things in a new direction as Burr also plays some more epic drums. This epic riff turns out to be the beginning of the first guitar solo and it's a pretty good one. As soon as this solo starts to die out, the other guitarist fills in really nicely and takes over for his solo. Murray and Smith seem to have great chemistry already and they're both excellent guitarists. This second solo leads back into the opening prog-y riff again and without Di'Anno in the way things sound pretty good. He returns for a final verse before they softly bring this song to a close and Burr plays some nice cymbals at the end. Track 9 is "Purgatory" and it's back to your typical Iron Maiden as they kick right into a fast-paced metal riff led by some pretty sweet guitar. Di'Anno begins the first verse but they don't dumb things down this time and continue the same rockin' opening riff and Di'Anno does some nice fast vocals ending with a long-held yell that actually sounds pretty good! After a couple quick verses it's guitar solo time already as we hear an excellent fast solo overtop. When the solo ends everything else stops and the other guitarist starts up a new catchy riff and Di'Anno begins a new verse. He hits one really high note that I don't think he should ever attempt again and somehow this leads seamlessly back into the original riff as they play a few more quick verses. They connect it back to the other verse and Di'Anno tries to hit that note again, but he really sounds like he's straining himself and I don't like it all. This is supposed to be the epic final scream as Burr plays out some final drums and brings this song to an end. The final song on the album is "Drifter" and these guys just keep coming up with these sweet, speedy metal riffs as they kick right into this one with some more catchy guitar. It's another nice headbanging main riff as Di'Anno again tries to sing a couple octaves higher than he should. When he sticks to his lower voice he sounds alright, which he does for the most part at least. Di'Anno starts whoaing and humming as we hear a nice slow guitar riff and some sweet bass by Harris. Burr's drums are great as well and in perfect unison everyone starts to slowly ramp things up as everything gets a little faster, than a little faster in a very nice crescendo. This culminates with a wicked little bass bit by Harris and they kick back into another verse. After the verse a guitar solo explodes as we hear some awesome stuff as well as some excellent backing bass. After the solo Di'Anno begins a new verse about singing along as they seem to be trying to do a crowd sing-along part to this fast-paced metal riff! It works to mixed success, but the final flourish to end the album has some great contributions from everyone as they let it all out before signing off.

That is the end of "Killers" and I thought for the most part it was a pretty awesome album! It did have a couple weaker songs and I'm still not sold on singer Paul Di'Anno,  but the other four members all play some amazing metal music. Adrian Smith seems like the perfect fit and Steve Harris is one hell of a bassist as well. Although it is mostly in the same style of their debut album, I thought even in under a year it sounded like they matured a bit and improved upon their original ideas. I think it easily surpasses "Iron Maiden" and the sky is the limit for these awesome metalheads. I look forward to them improving even more next time!